§ MR. BUCHANAN (Edinburgh, W.)asked the Postmaster General, Whether his attention has been called to Correspondence that has passed between the General Post Office, Edinburgh, and Messrs. Ciceri, with regard to the non-delivery of a telegram handed in on the 4th of June at the Inverness Post Office, for despatch to that firm; whether the address "Ciceri, Edinburgh," had for years been accepted as sufficient by the Edinburgh Post Office, and letters and telegrams delivered accordingly; and, under what authority the Post Office declines to deliver telegrams adequately addressed for the purposes of identification, and demands, as a condition of delivery, either that the full street address shall be inserted in a telegram, or that any shorter address shall be registered?
§ THE POSTMASTER GENERAL (Mr. RAIKES) (Cambridge University)My attention has been called to the Correspondence referred to by the hon. 925 Member. The Regulations of the Department require that the address of a telegram shall be sufficiently full to permit of delivery being effected without difficulty, and without reference to Directories. The address "Ciceri, Edinburgh," does not fulfil these conditions, and has not been registered, consequently the message was properly treated as insufficiently addressed. As has been explained, in reply to previous Questions, it is obviously improper that the messages of persons using a full address should be delayed while search is being made in Directories, &c., in order to effect the delivery of messages in which the address has been for any reason curtailed.